In a transparent effort to raise interest in the Milton Keynes Gallery and the state of culture in the same-named community, the artist Tomas Georgeson has hidden a blank check for £8,000 ($12,600) somewhere in the gallery. The artist dissimulated the check on Tuesday, he told the Telegraph, and has taken out an ad in tomorrow’s Milton Keynes Citizen that will read: “A blank cheque for £8,000 has been hidden somewhere in the public spaces of Milton Keynes Gallery. It will be collected on 1 March 2013 if unclaimed.”

The surreptitious check installation is not intended to disrupt Milton Keynes Gallery’s current programming — a two-person exhibition by Silvia Bächli and Eric Hattan — nor as a critique of the art space. “The integrity of what the gallery does is fantastic,” Georgeson told the Telegraph, “but I see a disconnect between the gallery and the public.”

That said, if a member of the public does find the check, the artist may be left virtually penniless. “It won’t bounce if somebody finds the check and cashes it,” he told the Telegraph. “I’m prepared to live with the consequences of that happening, and I could only be prepared if I thought it would really do some good.”